Chinese University plans to build an affordable private hospital with upfront and transparent fees aimed at middle-class patients.
Discussing details of the ambitious HK$2 billion plan for the first time, vice-chancellor Professor Joseph Sung Jao-yiu said the proposed private hospital in Tai Po would have fixed-salary doctors so their service charges would be fixed as well.
The idea, he said, was that patients would know in advance how much they had to pay before having an operation or treatment.
'All the charges and fees will be very transparent,' he said. 'Patients will know how much they are going to pay for their procedures. Doctors' fees in most private hospitals vary a lot. At our proposed hospital, doctors' fees will be fixed. It will be a new charging model in the private sector.'
As the hospital would be non-profit, Sung hoped the government would charge only a token land premium. The government offered four sites for new private hospitals to increase the supply of private beds to coincide with health care reforms and to encourage more people to buy private medical insurance.
The administration will start the tendering process for the sites at Wong Chuk Hang, Tung Chung, Tai Po and Tseung Kwan O later this year. Thirty organisations have expressed interest.
